This invention relates to electrical ovens in which food is cooked, and more particularly, to a support bar for use with one or more electrical heating elements mounted in the oven and providing the heat used for cooking the food.
As is well-known, electric stoves have an oven in which an electric heating element (or elements) is mounted. The heating element, when energized, produces the heat used to bake or broil food set in the oven. It is typical to install the heating element in the oven so it is suspended immediately below the top surface of the oven. A heating element, when electricity is supplied to it, expands along its length as it heats up. When electricity is removed, the heating element contracts as it cools. Installation of the heating element must therefore be in such a way as to take into account these dimensional changes. Failure to do so will result in failure of the heating element and loss of use of the oven until the element is replaced.
A heating element of the type used in ovens has an electrical terminal in each end. These ends attach to electrical receptacles located at the backwall of the oven. Or, the oven has spaced openings through which the terminals are inserted for mating connection with electrical terminals located behind the oven. One way of installing the heater is to rigidly attach the terminal ends of the heating element to an electrical connector located at the backwall of the oven. A flexible hangar is then suspended from the top wall of the oven and the heating element is attached to the hangar. As the heating element expands and contracts, the flexibility of the hangar accommodates the expansion and contraction of the element. A J-hook is an example of a hangar which allows such movement. Another type of installation in which the terminals rigidly mount to a connector at the rear of the oven includes rails extending along the sidewalls of the oven. A portion of longitudinal sections of the heating element is supported by the rails which, again, allows the heating element to expand and contract along its length while being supported. In some instances, the heating element is rigidly mounted in place, but the receptacles to which the terminal ends of the element attach are not rigid but flex. This again permits the heating element to expand and contract due to the flexibility in the electrical connection.
While each of these methods of installation accommodate the relative movement of a heating element, each has drawbacks with respect to longevity of use, prevention of dislodgment or breakage of the heating element, cost, and ease of installation and replacement (both of the installation means and the heating element). It would therefore be helpful to have a simple, readily installed support means which reliably supports the heating element.